MACUSA's first assumption, upon receiving the distress call, was that Grindelwald had launched another assault. They dispatched several Auror squads immediately, and Graves family members from across the country began converging on the manor simultaneously.
Every single one of them, upon arriving, looked first at the sign above the entrance gate.
Several faces went tight with fury, clearly Graves family members. The moment they raised their wands to blast it apart, Usagi sent down a shower of golden meteors from the sky, each one trailing terrible heat as it fell.
Her orders were simple: seal off all movement into and out of the manor. Any Graves who wanted to enter or exit used the dog flap. Anyone who attacked her could be dealt with freely, by whatever means necessary, dead or otherwise.
The arriving wizards responded quickly, combining their efforts to raise a shielding barrier and deflect the meteors. It was only then that they spotted Usagi concealed in the cloud cover above them. They mounted a counterattack.
It accomplished nothing. Their spells slid off her scales without leaving a mark. Usagi folded her wings and dove, her body wreathed in a vast draconic phantom that swelled around her as she plummeted. The barrier cracked and gave way. One Graves member failed to clear the impact radius in time and was reduced to a ruin on the ground. Usagi wheeled and spat a lance of violet fire that vaporized another wizard where he stood. Her tail swept wide, sending Aurors tumbling across the snow to avoid it. Where the tail struck the earth, the ground buckled and fractured, cracks tearing outward through the frozen soil for hundreds of meters.
"What in the world is this thing!" one Auror shouted, scrambling upright with his eyes fixed on Usagi. "She's worse than a dragon!"
In the end, the Aurors left three of their own behind in the snow and retreated.
The Graves members inside the manor stared in stunned silence.
Their reinforcements had been routed. Not by Riddle. By the creature he had left behind.
Despair settled over more than a few of them. Was there any recovering from this?
At least the manor's communication lines remained intact, owls continued moving in and out. The WhatsApp Directories had all been thrown out after Robert's humiliation in England, which meant they were back to this slower, more primitive method.
...
At MACUSA headquarters, President Samuel Korhog had finally pieced together the full sequence of events from his subordinate's report. He sat in silence for a long moment before he spoke.
"So what you're telling me is that humiliating Robert Graves at Hogwarts wasn't enough for Tom Riddle. He came here to finish the job."
The reporting Auror hesitated, then nodded. "Mr. President, the current Graves family death toll stands at five. We've also lost two Aurors. This has moved beyond a personal dispute. Tom Riddle is openly challenging the North American wizarding world. He's daring us to respond."
"Then stop waiting! Arrest him! Even if he's already fled back to England, bring him back in chains!" Korhog's fist hit the desk hard enough to rattle everything on it. His face had gone red.
"Does everyone think North America is there to be walked on?! Grindelwald I endured, but an underage student who hasn't even graduated yet? On what grounds does he act this arrogant?! Send a formal dispatch to the British Ministry. Either they cooperate with the arrest of Riddle, or we sever all bilateral cooperation and cut ties entirely!"
Korhog's fury was genuine and deep. Since Grindelwald's escape, MACUSA had suffered one humiliation after another. First the Picquery family had been massacred. Now the Graves. If this pattern continued, whose name would come up next?
If Riddle walked away without consequences, his authority as President would be worthless. North American wizards would become the laughingstock of the international community, the soft target that anyone could strike without reprisal.
"Multiple Auror squads and they couldn't subdue a single creature?! What exactly do I pay you people for? If a dozen isn't enough, send thirty. If thirty isn't enough, send three hundred! Where is Leopold? Tell the Head of the Auror Office to take every available body and tear that creature apart!"
"Samuel." A calm voice cut through his tirade. "I'm afraid this isn't as simple as you're making it."
Before the reporting Auror could respond, the office door opened without a knock.
There were very few people in North America who would walk into the President's office that brazenly. Today, it was the current Headmaster of Ilvermorny: Albert Fontana.
"Albert." Korhog fixed him with an irritated look. "What is that supposed to mean?"
"I'm offering my assessment." Fontana's expression was composed against the force of Korhog's fury, his voice level and measured. "Riddle's companion is of a strength that defies easy expectation. Even It is wary. Add the aerial advantage into consideration, and even sending your best will likely not be enough to detain him, unless you are prepared for a full escalation and ready to put everything on the table."
"What do you mean 'even It'..." Korhog started dismissively, then his eyes snapped wide open. "You said It, It is afraid of Riddle's creature? How is that possible?!"
He pointed at the door. The reporting Auror departed at a speed that suggested considerable relief and did not look back.
"Not afraid," Fontana corrected, once the door had closed. "Wary. It sensed something divine in Usagi."
"But It always said..." Korhog stopped himself, choosing his words carefully. "It said this world has no gods."